In the resource recovery industry boreholes are populated with strings of equipment. Oftentimes seals are needed between the equipment and the borehole wall or between radially spaced portions of strings. The seals, for example packers, come in many forms including compression set packers, inflatable packers, swellable packers, shape memory material packers, etc. These all work well for their intended purposes but as those of skill in the art will immediately recognize, even a full toolbox of solutions will leave an operator wanting for an alternative for a particular situation. Accordingly the art is always in need of new types of seals.
In more recent developments in the industry, higher expansion seals have become more desirable. There are of course limits to the radial displacement of for example a compression set packer. And while radial expansion limits of for example an inflatable packer are greater, the pressure requirements to generate sufficient radial contact force may be difficult. Accordingly, the art is also desirous of alternative high expansion packers.